It's Official: 'Catching Fire' Is 2013's Box Office Champ

It's Official: 'Catching Fire' Is 2013's Box Office Champ

All hail the Girl on Fire. Last week, Katniss Everdeen stormed past Tony Stark as The Hunger Games: Catching Fire surpassed Iron Man 3 to become the top-grossing film of the year. With a whopping $409.4-million domestic haul, Catching Fire becomes the 13th highest-grossing film ever domestically, after its seventh week in release. But, perhaps most notably, it marks the first time a film with a solo female lead ruled the box office since The Exorcist did it in 1973.

Internationally, Catching Fire is nowhere near the haul of Iron Man 3, but there's little surprise there, since comic-book movies have long been our most popular cinematic export. But, that shouldn't reign on Lionsgate's parade. The studio now has back-to-back $400-million films thanks to the franchise that Jennifer Lawrence built. And, withMockingjay — Part One due in November, and the final film coming in 2015, it's safe to say the studio has a couple more juggernauts en route. Happy times over at Lionsgate, for sure. (Buzzfeed)